Manatee County EMS worker stole fentanyl and hundreds of drug vials, sheriff says

A man who worked for Manatee County Emergency Medical Services for more than two years was arrested for stealing hundreds of vials of controlled substances while on the job.

Corey Baker, a 30-year-old Bradenton man who started working as a logistics technician for the county in November 2020, was arrested May 5 when law enforcement found upwards of 300 empty vials that previously contained fentanyl, hydromorphone, morphine and lorazepam, a probable cause affidavit said.

The approximate value of the drugs Baker allegedly stole and consumed is estimated to be under $20,000, detectives said.

When the Bradenton Herald reached out to Manatee County Government about the incident and Baker’s employment status, county officials declined to comment.

Despite being arrested in May, public records regarding Baker’s arrest no longer appear on official county websites, including the clerk of the court and the sheriff’s office. As recently as Aug. 1, the documents were publicly available online, but they have since been removed.

The sheriff’s office said the medication was taken from a secure room that Baker had access to as part of his job and was found shortly after one of Baker’s supervisors interviewed him about missing vials following an audit.

Detectives say Baker received access to a secure room inside the Manatee County EMS building in July 2021 that contained numerous vials of medications and controlled substances.

As part of his job, Baker accepted shipments containing the substances from distributors and brought them to the room where they would be entered into a locker, according to the sheriff’s office. He was then supposed to print out labels for each individual vial of medication, attach them to the vials and enter them into a locker.

But on May 3, a new supervisor of Baker’s noticed that around 50 vials were missing and unaccounted for. Two days later, that supervisor interviewed Baker about the discrepancies, and Baker admitted to stealing and using the medications for personal use and fraudulently entering data into the system, detectives said.

Manatee County EMS then contacted the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office to report the crime. Deputies interviewed Baker, who told them that he had an addiction, according to the sheriff’s office. Baker also denied ever selling any of the drugs, an arrest report said.

“Everything you’re looking for is inside my car,” Baker told deputies, according to the affidavit.

That’s when, with Baker’s permission, law enforcement searched his car and allegedly found over 300 empty vials of medication, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies arrested Baker on May 5. He is facing a third-degree felony for fraudulently obtaining property valued under $20,000, according to an arrest report.